The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-01-09
yISBY'S PICTURESQUE RUIN.
Rufus Magee Spends Delightful Day
in an Ancient Scandinavian Town.
Its Former Political and Commercial
Importance and Its Vast Wealth.
errespondence of the Indianapolis Journr,.


sea, distant south and east from Stockholm /
about one hundred and thirty miles. Com
munication is had from this city by line Of
steam vessels which make the trip five times a
week. 1t is usually an unpleasant and some
what tempestuous voyage as the waters of the
Baltic between the main land and the island |
are generally in a state of agitation, which in |
duces corresponding agitation in the passen-
gers stomach, and hence it is only those who |
are not subjected to seasckness that make the |
trip as mere matter of pleasure. The pictur- |
sequences of the island is found in its coast
its limestone promontories; its beautiful woods,
charming drives and salubrious atmosphere
while historical interest is everywhere stimu- |
lated in the decaying evidences OF its
earlier civilization and wealth. its great walls OF
defense, its ruined churches. forts, and monas-
teries now crumblihg in hopeless and dilapidated
ruin. The island is about eighty miles in
length and thirty in width in its widest portion.
The climate being milder degree than that on
either the Swedish or Russian coast, it is ena
bled to produce fruits and grains found in no
other nation of Northern Europe. The island,
since the seventeenth century. has belonged to the
kingdom of Sweden, and Of the titles Of the
Cortland. It is here that the only sister of the
king resides, the Princess Eugenia. now woman
hfty-six years of age, unmarried, and who de-
votes her time and her income to church and
charitable works. Her home is pleasantly stu
ated on a high range of rocky cliffs looking out
over the waters of the Baltic It is a plain
wooden structure, surrounded by neat groves,
paths shrubbery and a small native forest The
Princess is recluse and an invalid, and she
could have hardly chosen spot where the COM
bination of art and nature are more perfectly
blended, and where the life of one withdrawn
from the world would be less disturbed in
terfered with. AS walked through the ground
that perfect summer day, sat one of the
many benches placed at some convenient point
of view, and watched alternately the fussy old
chamber in his antlquated uniform, the
constant shifting of the light the sea,
thought of our own busy life at home and con-
trasted it with this quiet, serene, never-in-a-
hurry one, you see all about you in Scandinavia
Here rest, absolute rest and it seemed as if
all nature had settled down into lethargy, after
the tumnltuous and warlike scenes that had been
enacted many centuries before these same
waters and on this peaceful shore. For it
not always as It is now in this beautiful island of
Cortland. There time when the sleepy
city, sitting quietly now in that little rounded
bay. surrounded by that great wall, here and
there fallen into decay, and all long since in
dsuse, with its ivy Creeping where no life is
seen" all about 1t; whore nations fought for su-
premacy. and a royal plunderer desolated its
fairest ports and despoiled the Inhabitants of
| their wealth; when il the scene of the bust
/ est commercial activity in the world; when the
ships and merchants of all nations brought TO and
| departed from the bar Dor Of Vsby with all kinds
of merchandise Then it the great inter-
| changing port between the East and the West,
and it WAS the wealth accumulated in these en-
terprses that led the cupidity of q neighboring
king to sack and destroy this great mart of trade.
| Its glory has departed. and Ichabod is written
long since on its banners; but Visby, with its
| wonderful history will always live as the one
prominent factor in Western civilization aud en-
!. I. 1erprise The city Of visby is situated
| the Baltic bites into the land from north
/ TO SOUTH the formation of the coast line
| makes large and safe harborage for vessels,
and before the days of sea-walls, piers and Jet
/ ties it was one of the safest and best natural
/ harbors to be found in either the Baltic or North
/ sea. Long before the formation of the Hanseatic
| League Visby was the most important marine
city in northern Europe. The word Visby
means place of sacrifice, and it was here that
.captives taken in the predatory piratical excur-
/ sions constantly being carried on in the Baltic
| and North seas were brought and put to death.
1t grew in Importance because of its convenient
| position on the great commercial route estab-
| lished in the twelfth century between Asia Nov
ogorod, in Russia, and the Baltic. and at the
point where this route intersected by the
stream OF western European traffic. Hence, it
became the great emporium and depot of the
Western and Eastern world. 1t was an import
/ ant factor of the Hauseatic League where all
| nations had their representatives. It's wealth
was something fabulous This was largely used,
| as then the custom, in the erection Of
churches and the building of walls There were
at one time three monasteries and four
teen churches within the walls of the
city, and one church to the south, outside Of
| the wall All but one of these churches are in
varions stages of decay and ruin. The present
cathedral church originally built by the
Germans. and has since been restored, and is
now used as place of worship. The churches
were all built near together, and are constructed
Of dark blue limestone, OF very hard texture
I The architecture is in both the gothic and Ro-
manesque STYLE while in st. Nicholas by far
the handsomest and largest. the two styles are
| combined With probably the exception of the
old caste al Heidelberg, st. Nicholas at Visby, is
the most interesting and best preserved ruin
| in northern Europe. Certainly nothing in any
| Of the Rhenlsh provinces compares to
| it. Originally 1t was grand building, beautiful
| in its outlines, massive in its construction and
simple but elaborate In its ornamentation The
| walls standing, and recently the Swedish
government has made an appropriation to re-
store the more needed parts of all tho ruined
churches The facade of ST. Nicholas, looking
towards the sea, contained two rose windows.
In the middle of each, says the local his
torian, was brilliant carbuncle. This church
built IN the twelfth century and destroyed
in the thirteenth. The work manship Of these
old remnants is simply perfect, and the modern
builder and worker in stone could here find that
his art, at least, has not progressed with time
The Visby defense wall is the most remarkable
of all the evidences of the earlier prowess and
wealth of the people This wall was erected at
the close of the thirteenth century, on the SITE
as was informed, of still earlier wall 1t is
about mile in length, and is In the shape of
a hollow souare-the two lateral ends commend
ing at the coast running back beyond the town,
and then being united by a long wall in the rear,
thus cutting off all approach to the town excep,
from the There we're originally forty-eight
towers from sixty to seventy feet in height,
while placed between them, in equal distances
| are what are called saddle towers. built on cor
bells But few of the latter remain. Altogether
the wall is in an excellent state of preservation
testifying to the durability of the material and
workmanship used in its construction visby
was the most strongly fortified town of the
Hauseatic League and in addition to the wal